Nazi party was a German political party of the mass movement named National Socialism. Through Adolf Hitler's leadership, the party rose to power in 1933and used the totalitarian method to govern until 1945. While Hitler was incarcerated after the Munich coup in 1923, Alfred Rosenberg was assumed as the Nazi Party's interim leader. Rosenberg was an inefficient leader, and the party fractured over significant concerns. The defeat of the Munich Putsch proved Hitler could not seize power by coercion. Hitler then chose to change his strategy to concentrate only on democratically gaining favor for his faction and being elected to office. After his release from prison on 20th December 1924, Hitler forced the Bavarian Chancellor to withdraw the Nazi Party ban. Hitler arranged the Bamberg Conference in February 1926. Hitler wanted the group to be reunited and laid out a roadmap for the coming years.
Although some minor gaps also existed, Hitler succeeded tremendously in getting the socialist and conservative parties of the country together. Hitler restructured the Nazi Party in the same year to make it more effective. Firstly, the Nazi Party introduced a modern system separating Germany into Gaue areas. Each Gaue had a Gauleiter, as is representative. Each Gaue got split into the so-called Kreise subsections. Each circle then had its representative, a district leader named ( Carlson & Lee, 2000 ). Then, each circle got divided into still smaller parts, each with its ruler. These divisions were responsible for the above section, with Hitler at the top of the ultimate band.
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The Nazis set up new classes for diverse occupations, from girls, doctors and lawyers. They had been planned to penetrate established social structures and help the party attract more activists and supporters.
The Nazi Party transformed from a paramilitary group that sought to topple the state by intimidation to retain power through elections and mass support. The Nazis rose to power through the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS). While the SA and the SS played their part, the Nazis concentrated primarily on increasing attendance by genuinely advertising the group. They did this through easy and efficient propaganda. The Nazis began to advocate straightforward messages for a diverse variety of individuals and their concerns. The propaganda tried to manipulate the fear of weakness and uncertainty of citizens. These messages ranged from the "Bread and Work," directed at the workforce and the threat of unemployment, to a poster entitled "Mother and Child", illustrating Nazi women's values. Jewish people and Communists also played a central role as enemies of the Germans in Nazi propaganda.
Cultural, Political and Religious Implications of the Terrorists
The Nazis themselves also played an essential role in their return to power, including restructuring the party and propaganda. At the same time, the political and economic collapse of the Weimar Republic also played a critical role. The 1929 Wall Street Crash severely impacted the economy of Germany. The Wall Street Crash significantly affected Germany because it relied on US loans from 1924 onwards. When the loans were recalled, Germany's economy was severely weakened. Company spending has been limited. As a result, incomes dropped by 39% between 1929 and 1932. Employees in full time dropped from 20 million in 1929 to just over 11 million in 1933. About 10,000 firms closed each year during the same time. As a result, the number of people living in poverty has risen dramatically. The depression correlated the Weimar democracy with economic failure and a fall in living standards ( Flint, 2001 ). People were frustrated with the democracy of the Weimar Republic and wanted reform and blended with the ensuing political turmoil, which increased the appeal of Nazi propaganda broadcasts.
Political instability played an essential part in helping the Nazis come to power in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The subject will illustrate how the political situation grew from 1928's hope of the "Great Coalition" to Schleicher's dismissal and 1933's end of the Weimar Republic. Hermann Müller established the "great coalition" to rule Germany in June 1928. This alliance was composed of the SPD, the DDP, the DVP, and the Centre: left and right parties. Out of 491, Müller had a comfortable majority of 301 seats. Political parties seemed, for the sake of Germany, to lay aside their differences and join.
Nevertheless, it did not turn out like that. The parties were unable to agree on critical policies, and Müller fought to get legislation support. The state sought to reconcile its budget, as the Wall Street crash's outcome strikes Germany and joblessness spiraled. In addition to its regular payments, the number of people who claim unemployment benefits grew. Müller has urged Hindenburg to use Article 48 to attempt to reestablish unity, as the government has failed to compromise the future of unemployment benefits. President Hindenburg, a conservative right-wing politician, hated being in power with the left-wing SPD. He rejected the appeal of Müller. On 27th March 1930, Müller resigned. Heinrich Brüning was Müller's successor. While Brüning had no majority of Reichstag positions, Hindenburg was well regarded. Brüning depended more and more on the use of Article 48 and was authorized ( Galofré-Vilà et al., 2017 ). This set a precedent of presidential rule and distanced the Republic from parliamentary democracy. Brüning failed to govern successfully as the economic downturn escalated in 1931. Extremism became more common as people found a solution urgently. In 1932, Hindenburg ordered Brüning's resignation after a dispute over arrangements for the unemployed. New elections were called, and von Papen replaced Brüning.
Von Papen decided that Germany needed a strong leader to stabilize the country with the conservative establishment. In November 1932, he called for more elections to improve the border against communism and socialism. While the left and the socialist SPD lost votes, the right-wing Nazi party lost their majority. The Communist Party won elections and won eleven additional Reichstag seats. Again, there was no consensus on either group. The election was not successful. Hitler was given chancellorship after Papen had failed, but without the power to govern by presidential decree. He declined, and von Schleicher was appointed chancellor. However, in the Reichstag, von Schleicher faced the same problems as von Papen without a large proportion of his own. Hindenburg declined by decree to allow von Schleicher to govern. Schleicher only lasted one month.
The Use of Unrestricted Terrorism by the Nazis to their Advantage
The consolidation of power by the Nazis can get categorized into three themes: pseudo-moderation, terror and intimidation, and pseudo-legality. In Pseudo-legal, the Nazis made use of the Enabling Law to extract civil rights from Germans, which included removing other personal freedoms; for instance, they could imprison their oppositions for no reason. The law, therefore, enabled them to do this under the legality guise. Thus, these capabilities ensured that no people rose against the Nazi Party ( Selb & Munzert, 2018 ). Another factor that aided the Nazis in consolidating power was terror and intimidation. They made use of the SA and SS in harassing and imprisoning any opponents of the party.
Nonetheless, according to enabling law, some of those imprisonments and harassment were legal. In 1933, the SS and SA imprisoned over twenty-thousand individuals, which led to prison congestion, but the Nazis improvised and could use any space they could acquire in building camps. Most of the prisoners and those harassed could not share their ordeal, fearing they could get re-imprisoned or abused. Therefore, intimidation and terror became the leading ways of Nazis seeking control or suppression of their opposing parties and the whole of Germany in general. Another method they used was pseudo moderation for faster power consolidation. For example, the group held a Night of Long Knives, a purge of the SA leadership and other opponents. At that time, over 150 individuals got killed, and hundreds were arrested.
Finally, although the group terrorized Germany for a long, after the defeat of Germany in World War II in 1945, Hitler's suicide, the party got banned. The top leaders were also convicted of crimes against humanity and peace. Nonetheless, although there have been small Nazi parties in countries like America, after the happenings in 1945, the Nazism movement was virtually nonexistent.
References
Carlson, A., & Lee, S. (2000). Hitler and Nazi Germany: Questions and Analysis in History. German Studies Review , 23 (2), 365. doi:10.2307/1432704
Flint, C. (2001). A TimeSpace for electoral geography: Economic restructuring, political agency and the rise of the Nazi party. Political Geography , 20 (3), 301-329.
Galofré-Vilà, G., Meissner, C. M., McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2017). Austerity and the Rise of the Nazi Party. The Journal of Economic History , 1-33.
Selb, P., & Munzert, S. (2018). Examining a most likely case for strong campaign effects: Hitler's speeches and the rise of the Nazi party, 1927–1933. American Political Science Review , 112 (04), 1050-1066.
